HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-11 Info PacketCITY COUNCIL INFORMATION PACKET
CITY OF IOWA CITY
www.icgov.org October 11, 2012
IP1 Council Tentative Meeting Schedule
MISCELLANEOUS
IP2 Memo from Public Works Dir.: Sustainability Assessment Update
IP3 Memo from the Public Works Dir.: Plastic Bags
IN Memo from the Public Works Dir.: Multi- family recycling pilot update
IP5 Letter from Senator Grassley: Building Taft Floodwall (levee)
IP6 Protest of Rezoning for Jefferson Street Historical District: Andy Small, Avrohom
Blesofsky
IP7 Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee Minutes —Joint Informal meeting October 3
DRAFT MINUTES FROM CITY BOARDS & COMMISSIONS
IP8 Airport Commission: September 20
IP9 Board of Adjustment: September 12
IP10 Human Rights Commission: September 18
�� =• City Council Tentative Meeting Schedule 1131
October 11, 2012
CITY OF IOWA CITY
Subject to change
Date
Time
Meeting
Location
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting
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Emma J. Harvat Hall
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
7:0013M
Special Formal Meeting
Emma J. Harvat Hall
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
7:0013M
Special Formal Meeting
5:00 PM
Work Session Meeting
7:0013M
Special Formal Meeting
Emma J. Harvat Hall
Emma J. Harvat Hall
Emma J. Harvat Hall
Emma J. Harvat Hall
Tuesday, December 4, 2012 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J. Harvat Hall
Tuesday, December 4, 2012 7:0013M Regular Formal Meeting Emma J Harvat Hall
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 5:00 PM Work Session Meeting Emma J Harvat Hall
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 7:0013M Regular Formal Meeting Emma J Harvat Hall
CITY OF IOWA CITY 1P2
MEMORANDUM
Date:
September 26, 2012
To:
Rick Fosse, Director of Public Works
From:
Brenda Nations, Environmental Coordinator
Re:
Sustainability Assessment update
This is a progress report on our City's sustainability efforts in response to a recent question by
a council member regarding Iowa City's long term planning as it relates to climate change. We
are working on a baseline assessment which will mark the completion of the first step of ICLEI-
Local Governments for Sustainability's Five Milestones for Sustainability. The assessment will
features a chapter on energy which will include updated greenhouse gas data for both the
community and municipal operations. The assessment is funded through our Energy Efficiency
and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), which is a three -year stimulus grant awarded to the
City. The grant will be completed at the end of November, at which point the sustainability
assessment will be finalized.
Among other things, we have used the grant to hire a temporary employee, Kevin Cutsforth, to
assist in compiling the data for the report. Since that time, we have completed the majority of
the work and are confident that the report will be completed on schedule. After studying
sustainability metrics used by other cities, we chose 61 preliminary indicators to profile and
characterize the environmental, economic, and social aspects of the community. To date, we
have gathered data for 39 indicators and have provided summaries of the significance and
observed trends in the data. We are also tracking our methods and data sources to be used for
updates and subsequent sustainability reports and tracking.
Of the eleven chapters that will be included in the report, nearly all have been distributed to the
appropriate and relevant City departments for additions, review, and finalization. The deadline
for completion of their reviews is Nov. 2 "d. At that time we will finalize and format a final draft.
We plan to have the assessment published by the first of December, but may choose to release
the report after the first of the year for maximum visibility.
We are moving forward in our efforts and this assessment should be valuable in solidifying the
City's commitment towards sustainability. The purpose of this assessment is to establish
baseline data so that future targets, such as energy reduction goals, can be set.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at Brenda-nationsa-iowa-
ci .or or 887 -6161.
Cc: Tom Markus, City Manager
Geoff Fruin, Assistant to the City Manager
r
CITY OF IOWA CITY 1P3
k% m-.- �mm- 1 a MEMORANDUM
Date: October 9, 2012
To: Rick Fosse, Public Works Director
Tom Markus, City Manager
From: Jeri Jordan, Recycling Coordinator
Re: Plastic Bags
Introduction:
On September 28, 2012, 1 met with two representatives from the group 100 Grannies regarding
the plastic bag ban they have proposed. We discussed areas of common interest and goals,
those being to reduce the use of single -use plastic bags and to increase recycling of all
recyclable materials in Iowa City.
History /Background:
Several groups have approached the City over the past few years with the request to implement
a plastic bag barn. Staff has been a proponent of education and expanded recycling
opportunities rather than a ban and has worked to improve both areas over the past few years.
Staff has provided updates on that position in the past and have continued to pursue efforts
consistent with that approach. Efforts have included:
• giving out free totes at events through ECO Iowa City and others,
• including plastic bag recycling information in all staff outreach efforts,
• working with the Parks and Recreation Department to apply for and receive a $2,000
grant from the "Build with Bags" program, securing benches for our local parks that are
made from recycled plastic bags. Education about bag recycling is part of the grant
requirements, and
• placing a plastic bag recycling container at the East Side Recycling Center (in progress).
Discussion of Solutions:
If a ban is to be considered, staff suggests that the effort be a comprehensive effort by the
larger community to include Coralville and North Liberty. By focusing on the broader
community, economic disparity between the communities would be limited. Further, staff agrees
that a broader coalition of stakeholders will help inform the discussion and develop a
understanding of the issue between businesses, residents, and those actively pursuing
legislation.
Financial Impact:
The financial impact to the City would be significant staff time (Recycling Coordinator,
Environmental Coordinator, City Attorney's Office). If a ban were to be considered, Staff would
need to be prepared to move forward with legislation to implement a ban. In addition, there will
time required both for education to local businesses and enforcement.
Recommendations:
Staff recommends continued education and improved recycling opportunities consistent with
past practice and recommendations.
CITY OF IOWA CITY P4
®� MEMORANDUM
Date: October 10, 2012
To: Rick Fosse, Public Works Director
From: Jeri Jordan, Recycling Coordinator `y
Re: Multi- family recycling pilot update
Introduction:
The Iowa City Landfill and Recycling Center received Solid Waste Alternative Program (SWAP)
funding from the Department of Natural Resources in January 2012 to implement a pilot
recycling project for multi - family dwellings in Iowa City. Five apartments and condominium
associations were involved; in total 196 households received recycling services through the
pilot. Data collection ended in September 2012; Staff is now compiling a Best Management
Practices (BMP) Manual. The manual will be the final product for the SWAP funding
commitment and will be distributed widely in the Iowa City area in an effort to encourage more
apartments and condominiums to initiate recycling programs.
History/Background:
The City of Iowa City performed a pilot recycling program for mufti- family dwellings in 1992 and
in October 1995, based on that pilot program, the JCCOG Multi - Family Dwelling Recycling
Committee Final Report made several policy recommendations; no action was taken. Cost,
logistics and space restrictions were recognized as barriers to program improvements. Since
that time, the availability of single stream recycling services by multiple private solid waste
haulers in the area has improved both the cost and logistics of multi- family recycling.
Discussion of Solutions:
Logistics and space restrictions will always be an issue for some dwellings, especially those in
the central business district, but for the five condominium associations and apartments that are
participating in the pilot project, a simple discussion regarding dumpster or cart location was
sufficient to overcome any obstacles. Data regarding landfill diversion will be available in the
BMP manual; preliminary analysis suggests diversion rates between 35% and 54 %. Based on
lower- than - expected hauling costs, diversion rates and qualitative feedback from the pilot
participants, the pilot went very well. All five pilot participants have elected to continue their
recycling service through their private haulers at their own expense.
Financial Impact:
The SWAP funding allotment was $18,000; the actual request for reimbursement will likely be
closer to $8,000 since the cost of both the containers and hauling were far less than anticipated.
The financial impact to the Landfill for the pilot will be approximately $6,000, of which about
$3,500 will be staff time. The remaining $3,000 is comprised of a portion of the costs of
containers, hauling services provided by private waste haulers and printed materials such as
posters, surveys and the BMP manual.
Recommendation:
Recommendations regarding City policy may accompany the BMP in December 2012
REPLY To:
❑ 135 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 -1501
(202)224 -3744
e -mail: grassley.senate.gov /contact.cfm
❑ 721 FEDERAL BUILDING
210 WALNUT STREET
DES MOINES, IA 50309 -2140
(515)288 -1145
❑ 1501ST AVENUE NE
SUITE 325
CEDAR RAPIDS, IA 52401
(319) 363 -6832
'United Mates 95enate
The Honorable Matt Hayek
Mayor of Iowa City
City of Iowa City
410 E. Washington Street
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
Dear Mayor Hayek:
CHARLES E. GRASSLEY
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 -1501
October 3, 2012
REPLY To:
' P5 ❑ 103 FEDERAL COURTHOUSE BUILDING
320 6TH STREET
Sioux CITY, IA 51101 -1244
(712)233 -1860
❑ 210 WATERLOO BUILDING
531 COMMERCIAL STREET
WATERLOO, IA 50701 -5497
(319)232 -6657
❑ 201 WEST 2ND STREET
SUITE 720
DAVENPORT, IA 52801
(563)322 -4331
❑ 307 FEDERAL BUILDING
8 SOUTH 6TH STREET
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA 51501 -4204
(712)322 -7103
Enclosed are copies of letters from Ms. Amy Becker, Kay and
Tracy Hansen, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fellows, Mr. Dale Simon, Mrs.
Joellen Shoemaker, Tom Bockenstedt and Celeste Hollaway of Iowa
City, Iowa regarding the building of the Taft Floodwall to
protect the homes within the Idyllwild condominium complex.
This matter is one which is outside my jurisdiction as a federal
legislative official. Any information that you may be able to
provide them regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Should you have any comments, you may contact me at my Cedar
Rapids office.
CEG /GF
RANKING MEMBER,
JUDICIARY
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator
Committee Assignments:
AGRICULTURE
BUDGET
FINANCE
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
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CO- CHAIRMAN,
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
CONTROLCAUCUS
August 26, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
I am an Idyllwild Condo owner in Iowa City. I am writing today to ask for your consideration of
building a floodwall to protect the Idyllwild community and the neighboring Parkview Church.
Some have said that Idyllwild was built illegally in. a floodplain. In fact, it was built a foot or more
above the floodplain. With Coralville, and other communities to the north having adopted their own
flood protection plans, this may well have an adverse effect on those of us in the Idyllwild community.
The Taft floodwall will help to provide us some needed protection, as taxpaying citizens, in the
unconscionable event of a reoccurrence. The Idyllwild community cannot build a sandbag wall high,
wide, or expansive enough to protect ourselves. And the homeowners association is not in a position
to pay and provide labor for a temporary flood protection wall.
One argument given against the floodwall is that it will need taxpayer dollars to finance it. It seems
that a floodwall — even at an expense of $15 million (of which $8 million would be paid by a HUD
grant) would be a good investment to protect the more than $25 million of real estate ( Idyllwild and
the Parkview Church) that is left. And if the grant money of $8 million is not used in our community,
it will not be given back to taxpayers, but redistributed to some other community for disaster
protection. It makes sense for our community to use this grant!
The proposed levee will not only protect the 92 homes in Idyllwild, but also protect against Foster
Road again being flooded, which is presently the only access to the Peninsula community. The
Parkview Church property will also gain protection from a floodwall.
For these reasons, we support the Taft Floodwall.
Sincerely,
Kay & Tracy Hansen
15 Pentire Circle
Iowa City, IA 52245
September 1, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
I am writing you today to voice my support in favor of building the Taft floodwall to help protect
us - and the other 91 homes in the Idyllwild condominium complex in Iowa City — from the type of
financial, physical, and mental devastation caused by the flood of 2008
With all the community resources that were available in 2008, we were unable to build a sandbag
wall high enough and wide enough to protect our 92 homes — that would have required 500,000
sandbags! MMS concluded in the Flood Emergency Response Plan which they developed for
Idyllwild, that permanent flood protection would be the most effective means to protect this area
from another flood like the one we experienced in 2008.
Pre - flood, real estate was valued at close to $30 million in Idyllwild, and the Taft Floodwall should
help stabilize property values and support increased property taxes. We know there is concern
over Floodwall appearance. However, one needs only to walk the streets of Iowa City to see the
walls that have been built for many reasons, with many of them being interesting and visually
appealing. A flood wall with a brick or stone facade could be an interesting backdrop to new
landscaping.
It is our view that a basic function of government is to protect the safety, welfare and well -being
of its citizens. Idyllwild residents and owners pay their share of taxes and deserve this protection.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely,
Amy Becker
52 Pentire Circle
Iowa City, IA 52245
August 29, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
The reason for this letter is to encourage you to support building the Taft Floodwall to protect the 92
homes within the Idyllwild condominium complex that were ruined by the flood of 2008. The DNR
reports that the flood event of 2008 is not an isolated, one -time event. In fact, according to a study by
the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, severe flooding
has doubled in the last half- century. And flood protection plans put into place in Coralville and other
communities to our north may have an adverse effect on flooding us once again.
The Idyllwild community has worked for the past four years to overcome the floods devastation, and we
are still not finished. It has cost us $8 million to rebuild, about $87,000 per owner. It has been an
immense challenge, and not one we wish ever to repeat.
The Idyllwild HOA cannot fund a temporary flood protection wall due to its cost and the intensive labor
required to put in place in the event of a flood. It is our view that a basic function of government is to
protect the safety and well -being of its citizens. With 83% of the cost of the Taft Floodwall covered by
the FEMA grant of $8 million, plus the funds of $3 million set aside for the raising of Foster Road, we
respectfully request that you support the creation of the Taft floodwall to provide us that protection.
Sincerely,
Karlen & Robert Fellows
135 Pentire Circle
Iowa City, IA 52245
l_40 0�,Llnl
August 28, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
112 SEP 26 PM 2' 12
We are writing you in favor of building the Taft floodwall in Iowa City to protect the Idyllwild
condominium community where we live. The 92 homes and 23 buildings were absolutely
devastated by the flood of 2008.It created financial ruin for some, stress and anxiety for all,
and its owners $8 million to rebuild - and we are not done. No one could possibly wish for us
to go through this again.
Though it was severely flooded, the Idyllwild condominium complex was built with Council
approval a foot or more above the floodplain. No one could have predicted the 2008 flood
would be so extreme, and flood mitigation structures up and down the river, as well as more
frequent intense storms have changed the severity of floods in the Midwest. The City Council
has the opportunity and the funding - at this moment- to choose to protect these homes
without raising the flood levels for our neighbors. It would be remiss to do nothing and let
the flood waters flow unabated next time around.
Though the floodwall is important for Idyllwild, it is also an important element for the
protection of the Parkview Church, which was also devastated by the Flood of 2008. And
while one argument against the floodwall is that we should all just get flood insurance,
Parkview Church DID have flood insurance, however, it paid only $500,000 out of the
$900,000 worth of damage that was incurred. Insurance does not mean there is no expense
to the victim. Additionally, flood insurance does not cover the stress and anxiety from such a
disaster.
For these reasons, we support the Taft Floodwall.
Sincerely,
Dale Simon
46 Pentire Circle
Iowa City, IA 52245
August 25, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
aEP 25 PM 2: 18
I am an owner of a condo in Iowa City in the Idyllwild development. I am writing today in
support of building a floodwall to protect the Idyllwild community and the neighboring
Parkview Church.
HERE ARE SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE YOU TO CONSIDER:
1. When the City Council legally approved the construction of Idyllwild in 1993, the
property was not in a flood plain.
2. Idyllwild was not eligible for a FEMA buyout because as a condominium development,
we are governed by a Declaration of Condominium which defines all 92 homes as an
association and one large property, not individual units. Also, collectively, we did not
meet the minimum damage requirements to be eligible for a buyout.
3. We cannot raise our buildings higher due to the type of construction.
4. The proposed levee will not only protect the 92 homes in Idyllwild, but also protect
against Foster Road again being flooded, which is presently the only access to the
Peninsula community. The Parkview Church property will also gain protection from a
floodwall.
5. It has been falsely stated that those of us in Idyllwild did not have to spend a significant
amount to rebuild following the flood. You should know that the average cost to rebuild
each of the 92 homes was $87,000.
For these reasons, I support the Taft Floodwall.
Sincerely,
Joellen Shoemaker
27 Pentire Circle
Iowa City, IA 52245
August 31, 2012
The Honorable Chuck Grassley
State Senator
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Sen. Grassley:
We are writing as concerned citizens who own 14 condos in the Iowa City community of Idyllwild.
We have requested that our City Council take action now to protect this community. They applied for and
received a HUD Community Development Block Grant of $8 million to use to construct a floodwall or
levee in our neighborhood. The Taft Floodwall, as it is called, will eliminate the need to raise Foster Road,
as the levee will protect this roadway as well as protect the Parkview Church to our east. And perhaps
most importantly, an HDR study just released has concluded that the Taft Floodwall will not create a
detrimentally higher water level for our neighbors on Taft Speedway or Parkview Terrace.
Idyllwild does not have many options for flood protection. Our development was not eligible for a FEMA
buyout after the flood because as a condominium development, we are governed by a Declaration of
Condominium which defines all 92 homes as an association and one large property, not individual units.
Also, collectively, we did not meet the minimum damage requirements to be eligible for a buyout. We
cannot raise our buildings higher due to the type of construction. We cannot protect ourselves with
sandbags - with all the community resources that were available in 2008, we were unable to build a
sandbag wall high enough and wide enough to protect the 92 homes at Idyllwild. With all the resources that
were brought to bear, we put into place 350,000 sandbags, until we were out of time and still 150,000
sandbags short.
We believe that a basic function of government is to protect the safety, welfare and well -being of its
citizens. Idyllwild residents and owners pay their share of taxes and deserve this protection.
We want and need flood protection, we believe the best course of action is to spend the grant money in
Iowa City, not to send it back to be redistributed to another community.
Si ,
, r
Tom Bockenstedt & Celeste Holloway
3555 Dolphin Drive SE
Iowa City, IA 52240
Owners of:
21 Pentire Circle
131 Pentire Circle
141 Pentire Circle
147 Pentire Circle
12 Colwyn Court
14 Colwyn Court
18 Colwyn Court
41 Colwyn Court
12 Trevose Place
18 Trevose Place
47 Trevose Place
21 Newlyn Circle
23 Newlyn Circle
25 Newlyn Circle
IP6
PROTEST OF REZONING CITY OF IOWA CITY
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
IOWA CITY, IOWA
We, the undersigned, being the owners of property included in the proposed zoning
change, or the owners of property which is located within two hundred feet of the exterior
boundaries of the property for which the zoning change is proposed, do hereby protest the
rezoning of the following property:
This petition is signed and acknowledged by each of us with the intention that such
rezoning shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of at least three- fourths
.of all the members of the council, all in accordance with 414.5 of the Code of Iowa.
Sy:
Lo
Owner(s)
1 N, Um, /5
Of Property Address
�a
STATE OF IOWA ) ::J
ss:
JOHNSON COUNTY) F
On this day of 6C1 L , 201 L- , before me, the undrsigned,
a N ,WublicA*n and for said County and State, personally appeared
and
to me known o be the identical persons named in and who executed the within and
foregoing instrument and acknowledged that they executed the same as their voluntary
act and deed.� ---�— r
Notary Public in and for the State of Iowa
Orig: Subd Folder
Cc: CA
PCD
Council
Media File
October 4, 2012
Iowa City Historical Preservation Commission
410 E. Washington St.
Iowa City, Iowa 52244
Attention: Commissioners
I would like my property at 21 & 25 N. Van Buren St. to be excluded from the proposed
Jefferson Street Historical District.
As a single family dwelling, I do not believe it to be in the best interest of my property
now or in the future. I am opposed to more restrictions placed on my property and feel
that being in the first block away from downtown/university it is in a transitional area
(the city planner also agree that there should be a transitional zone from
downtown/University to residential area) and is primarily made up of rental properties, B
& B's and businesses. This action would put an undo burden on them and myself
The area is question is not like the Northside historical district, which is two blocks away
from downtown and primarily residential NOT businesses and rentals. I am strongly
opposed in general to the establishment of the local proposed Jefferson Street historical
District. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Andy Small
25 N. Van Buren St.
Iowa City, Iowa 52245
JC 1.1T��n
C(! 7\ `
pCJ
COUP16(
.�
PROTEST OF REZONING CITY OF IOWA CITY
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
IOWA CITY, IOWA
We, the undersigned, being the owners of property included in the proposed zoning
change, or the owners of property which is located within two hundred feet of the exterior
boundaries of the property for which the zoning change is proposed, do hereby protest the
rezoning of the following property:
q ,ar7 c- S-C-/, CyLyx m �Z2�Cs
This petition is signed and acknowledged by each of us with the intention that such
rezoning shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of at least three - fourths
,of all the members of the council, all in accordance with 414.5 of the Code of Iowa.
By:
Owner(s) Of Property Address
N
STATE OF IOWA ) ''
ss: x !a
JOHNSON COUNTY) � � ; t
On this Y406" day of Oc - rtI Q f- 2 , 20 t L before me, Alid"ImUrsigned
a Notary Public in and for said County and State, personally appeared'
A VO A-6 J4 and
'to me known to be the identical persons named in and who executed the within and
foregoing instrument and acknowledged that they executed the same as their voluntary
act and deed.
VEMNUTEK19W
�OOMWn
Orig: Subd Folder
Cc: CA
PCD
Council
Media File
t
Notary Public in and for the State of Iowa
IP7
MINUTES OF THE JOINT INFORMAL MEETING OF JOHNSON COUNTY
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING
COMMITTEE:
OCTOBER 3, 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Discussion from Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee Members Regarding Justice
Center Bond Referendum and Educational Events ..................................... ............................... l
Report from Alternatives and Treatments Subcommittee .................................. ..............................3
Report from Public Information/Outreach Subcommittee ................................. ..............................4
Report from Facilities Subcommittee ................................................................. ..............................4
SetNext Meeting Date ....................................................................................... ..............................4
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the
Johnson County Health and Human Services Building at 4:30 p.m. Members present
were: Pat Harney, Terrence Neuzil, and Rod Sullivan; absent: Janelle Rettig, Sally
Stutsman.
Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee Members: Present: Department of
Corrections Supervisor Jerri Allen, Iowa City Public Library Adult Service Coordinator
Kara Logsden, County Attorney Janet Lyness, Bar Association Representative James
McCarragher, Public Defender's Managing Attorney Peter Persaud, County Sheriff
Lonny Pulkrabek, Citizen Representative Professor Emeritus John Stratton, and
Consultation of Religious Communities Representative Dorothy Whiston. Absent:
MECCA Director Ron Berg, Iowa City City Council Member Connie Champion,
University of Iowa Student Representative Drew Lakin, and Judge Douglas Russell.
Staff present: Board of Supervisors' Executive Director Andy Johnson and Deputy
Auditor Nancy Tomkovicz.
Sullivan apologized for the late distribution of the agenda to CJCC members and
noted that the meeting was properly noticed.
DISCUSSION FROM CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING COMMITTEE
MEMBERS REGARDING JUSTICE CENTER BOND REFERENDUM AND
EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
County Attorney Janet Lyness said she believes it would be a good idea for the
Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC) to hold some kind of forum to provide
the public an opportunity to ask about the justice center. She said the "Yes For Justice"
group has done some public information events and there is a group forming now to
oppose the bond. She said it would be a good idea for the CJCC to reach out to parts of
the community who have not yet requested speakers to talk about the justice center. She
said, for instance, she does not believe there have been any events in North Liberty. She
said there may be some interest in having something in some of the smaller communities
in the county such as Hills or Tiffin.
Informal Minutes: October 3, 2012/ page 2
Lyness said she wants to find out if the members are interested in participating in a
forum or something similar. She said she, County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek and Bar
Association Representative James McCarragher have given a number of presentations
already and that it would be good for the public to hear from others. She said they should
be able to speak on questions about things such as the architectural design, costs and
other matters. She said the committee itself should plan to hold a public event in addition
to the video that has already been distributed in order to provide explanations, answer
questions and provide different perspectives.
Neuzil said it would be helpful if the architect could be present because technical
questions come up at a lot of these meetings. He believes the architects could provide
some of the important details about the design. Harney said that the question of the
design came up at a recent meeting. Someone asked how the old Courthouse will be
stabilized while the area around it is being dug up.
Sullivan said one thing that should be considered with the CJCC is that since all five
Supervisors serve on it, they do not want any Board member to serve as a panelist
because of the chance that a quorum could be present at an event. Neuzil asked if they
should just post an agenda for any panel like that. Sullivan said when they do that all five
members usually try to attend. He said it would depend on members' schedules and that
Stutsman in particular is quite busy right now.
Neuzil said they could try to set a few dates. He asked McCarragher about North
Liberty and McCarragher said North Liberty could accommodate any time they want for
such a forum. He said they just need to make a call to set up a meeting and that they
should probably publicize it by the October 12th. He said the meeting would be at the
North Liberty Community Center.
Sullivan asked Lyness and Pulkrabek if they could both be available that week and
both said yes. McCarragher said since they are getting close to the election they probably
just want to fix a date. He said he would schedule the forum.
Sullivan said this will be an event sponsored by CJCC. He said while there is another
group, "Yes for Justice," advocating in favor of the justice center, the CJCC cannot
display any bias towards passage. He said they need to focus on public education rather
than advocacy.
Lyness said the format would be to have panelists speak and then provide the
opportunity for questions. Sullivan said the panel would include at least Lyness and
Pulkrabek and that if enough Board members could be present they would set an agenda.
Neuzil said it would be good to have at least one person from the architectural firm
present at the meeting and Neumann Monson Architects Principal Kim McDonald said he
would arrange for someone to be there. Sullivan said it sounds like they have something
arranged and thanked Lyness for proposing the forum.
Informal Minutes: October 3, 2012/ page 3
Iowa City Public Library Adult Services Coordinator Kara Logdsen said the League
of Women Voters, which normally stays neutral, has taken a position on the justice center
so there are some questions about whether their meeting could be taped by the Channel 4,
the City government channel. She said the Iowa City Attorney's Office informed her that
since last night the Iowa City City Council voted to support the justice center bond
referendum it will be alright to tape the League of Women Voters event and broadcast it
live.
Harney suggested that the CJCC also try to schedule an event in Solon.
Consultation of Religious Communities Representative Dorothy Whiston said the
group opposing the justice center contacted her. She said it appears their primary
concern is that expansion of jail facilities results in more incarceration of black people.
She said it is important that the members be aware of this issue and be prepared to
respond if someone raises that question. She said the statistical information on the CJCC
website addresses that question, but only indirectly. She said everyone should continue
to be mindful of this.
Neuzil asked what else they could do to provide information about the justice center
proposal. He said there has been a lot of radio coverage. McCarragher said the "Yes for
Justice" group has been to a lot of civic organizations. Sullivan said they need to clarify
that CJCC has not done that.
McCarragher said the City of Iowa City and the University of Iowa Student Council
have endorsed the justice center and "Yes for Justice" continues to give radio interviews
and is working with the print media also. He said they are still doing advertising and
giving radio interviews.
Whitson said she and her cohorts gave a presentation to the Consultation of Religious
Communities and that she has sent information to area churches. She said she has
received several calls with from churches with questions and speaker requests.
Logdsen said the Iowa City Public Library has a nice visual display about the justice
center. She said 766 people voted early at the library last week and there was a lot of
confusion about the need to turn the ballot over to vote on the bond issue. She said they
need to get information out about turning the ballot over. She said they should also
publicize the early voting dates. Harney asked Lyness if the Auditor's Office can instruct
people to turn their ballots over. Lyness said that is fine and they can tell voters to
remember to vote on both sides. Sullivan said he thinks they do that anyway. Deputy
Auditor Nancy Tomkovicz said Auditor's Office employees and poll workers are trained
to instruct the voter to turn the ballot over and that some actually physically turn the
ballot over to show both sides.
REPORT FROM ALTERNATIVES AND TREATMENTS SUBCOMMITTEE
Informal Minutes: October 3, 2012/ page 4
Lyness said the alternatives and treatments program will definitely continue in the
new justice center. She said she and Whitson recently attended Cracking the Code, an
event about racism in the justice system. She said regardless of what happens with the
justice center they need to continue working to address issues of race. Harney said one of
the pluses of the justice center is that it will provide the space to provide alternative
treatment to people.
REPORT FROM PUBLIC INFORMATION /OUTREACH SUBCOMMITTEE
McCarragher said in addition to what they have already discussed, it would be good
to think about other places to hold forums on the justice center.
REPORT FROM FACILITIES SUBCOMMITTEE
Harney said the subcommittee has not met. He said he recently received an e-mail
from the federal General Services Administration informing them that they have heard
from their attorneys and will change the contract to reflect their attorneys' suggestions. It
will be at least another month before they hear from them again. Harney said he has
some concerns about that which he will discuss later with Lyness. Neuzil said at least
they are still talking.
Venture Architects Design Director and Principal John Cain asked Harney if he could
give a brief update on the status of the purchase. Harney said the status is that GSA is
still working on a contract under which the County would give them at least 200 parking
spaces to supplement however many spaces they currently own in the U.S. Postal Service
building parking lot. Harney said those spaces would be available perpetually which is
another issue they will have to discuss in contract negotiations.
SET NEXT MEETING DATE
Sullivan said he wants to emphasize the importance of the next meeting because it is
scheduled for the day after the General Election. He said regardless of the election
results, the CJCC will have a lot to discuss. He asked members to please plan on
attending the November 7th meeting. Sullivan said he believes they are scheduled to
meet in the Board Room because the HHS conference room will still have ballots in it.
Sullivan said it is critical that members attend the next meeting.
Adjourned at 4:55 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
Recorded By Nancy Tomkovicz
Airport Commission
September 20, 2012
Page 1
MINUTES
IOWA CITY AIRPORT COMMISSION
SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 — 6:00 P.M.
AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING
Members Present: Jose Assouline, Howard Horan, Rick Mascari, Chris Ogren
Members Absent: Minnetta Gardinier
Staff Present: Sue Dulek, Michael Tharp
DRAFT
Others Present: Matt Wolford, Jeff Edberg, David Hughes, Chuck McDonald, Jim
McCarragher, John Yeomans
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (to become effective only after separate Council
action): None
CALL TO ORDER:
Chairperson Assouline called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M.
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES:
Minutes of the August 16, 2012, meeting were reviewed. Mascari moved to approve the
minutes of the August 16, 2012, meeting as submitted; seconded by Ogren. Motion
carried 4 -0; Gardinier absent.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION:
None.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION /ACTION:
a. Airport Commerce Park — Jeff Edberg addressed the Members first. He stated that the
sale that has been pending on Lots #14 and 15 has been firmed up now. The buyer
would like to close next Friday, if possible. Edberg stated that he has given the
necessary documents to Attorney Dulek to facilitate this. He added that the buyer has
not shown any further interest in also purchasing Lot #13 at this point. The discussion
briefly turned to zoning issues and how the area is currently zoned. Edberg then
responded to Members' questions regarding zoning.
b. Farming Operations — John Yeomans with Farmers National Company spoke to the
group next. He briefly explained what he does with the Airport land that is farmed every
year and how this arrangement has been working for the past six years. He asked the
Commission if they had any plans for this land, and the group responded that they
currently do not, that they plan to continue the farming operation contract. Yeomans
then explained how Merschman Seeds has handled their test plots with tours coming
through to see what has grown. Tharp pointed out on the map some of the upcoming
changes with the taxiway and how it might affect the farmland area. Yeomans then
shared some pictures of the areas that the farmer cleaned up over the past season.
Airport Commission
September 20, 2012
Page 2
Members then briefly discussed the mowing that the farmer has been doing and if they
want him to continue with this. Yeomans will check with the farmer and will try to keep
the mowing as part of his contract.
c. Iowa Aviation Promotion Group
I. Fly Iowa — Chuck McDonald addressed the Members about the
Fly Iowa event. He shared a program from a recent event to help explain
what Fly Iowa is all about. For 2013, McDonald noted that they need to
find a place to host the event. He further explained how this show would
be handled, since they would not be able to do plane aerobatics during it.
A fly -in and breakfast would also be part of this event, which is typically
the big draw for the event. Jim McCarragher, Chairman of the Sertoma
Club's Airport breakfast, joined the discussion at this point. Tharp
suggested the Fly Iowa be at the beginning of the summer and then
Sertoma could have their individual event later in August. Members
briefly discussed past events and how much work it takes to set up and
run a successful event. Mascari suggested they check with other groups
that are involved with Airport events to see if anyone would like to
collaborate with Fly Iowa. Ogren agreed, adding that they may want to
approach the local EAA Chapter on this. Members continued to discuss a
possible Fly Iowa event at the Airport, with McDonald responding to
questions and concerns. Mascari stated that he believes they should go
ahead and see what kind of interest there is in the community to help host
the Fly Iowa event next summer. Ogren suggested they also talk to the
Children's Museum and see if they have an interest. McCarragher
brought up several issues for the Members to consider, noting how
Sertoma has handled things during their events. Matt Wolford with Jet Air
joined in on the conversation, stating how Jet Air has helped with
previous events. Ogren suggested that she email Gardinier since she is
an officer in the local EAA Chapter and see if they can get things moving.
It was suggested that they meet with McDonald in 60 days to let him
know if the Airport will be able to get the event planned in time for a 2013
date. Tharp noted that with budget talks starting soon, they should be
able to get the necessary matching funds for the proposed event.
d. FAA/IDOT Projects: AECOM —
i. Obstruction Mitigation — David Hughes with AECOM addressed
the Commission next. He noted that there is no update on the obstruction
mitigation project at this point.
ii. 7/25 Parallel Taxiway Grading & Drainage — This project has
been finalized in the field, according to Hughes, and they are just awaiting
some paperwork from the contractor before they can finalize things with
the FAA.
iii. 7/25 Parallel Taxiway Paving & Lighting — Hughes noted that
this project started earlier this week. The next phase will include storm
sewers and then the pavement will be rebuilt. Not all of this project will be
completed this season, according to Hughes.
iv. Airport Electrical Rehab — Hughes stated the contractor has the
wiring done in the T- hangars on the north side of the field. Some of the
LED lights are in place, as well. He then responded to Members'
questions about the various projects.
Airport Commission
September 20, 2012
Page 3
e. FY2014 Budget — Tharp stated that the budget documents have been received from
Finance and that they need to be returned by September 28. He added that he would
like to have a budget work session sometime next week so they can review the budget.
He added that the amount the Airport receives each year from the City will most likely be
reduced this budget. Mascari noted that he will be gone next week on Thursday and
Friday, and Horan stated that he will be gone for the next three weeks. The discussion
turned to where the Airport stands with its loan payments and how they could pay these
down quicker. Tharp clarified how they handle this and what the history has been. After
some discussion, Mascari suggested they ask for 15% to 20% less from the City this
budget cycle and the other Members agreed. Tharp then asked if Members would still
like to have a budget work session or if after today's discussion they are ready to move
forward. Commission members agreed to accept the subcommittee proposal as the
FY2014 budget.
f. Hangar #34 — Tharp stated that the rent on this hangar is still competitive and he
believes they should keep it the same. He added that this is a three -year lease.
I. Consider a Resolution Approving Lease for Hangar #34 —
Horan moved to approve Resolution #Al2 -33 for the Lease on
Hangar #34; seconded by Mascari. Motion carried 4 -0; Gardinier
absent.
g. Airport Operations — Tharp shared that Sertoma's event was still quite successful
recently, even though they had a rainy day.
h. FBO / Flight Training Reports — Wolford with Jet Air shared the monthly report with
Members, adding that they have replaced countertops and faucets on the main floor of
the terminal building. He also spoke about the recent Sertoma event, sharing with
Members some of the maintenance issues they addressed in getting ready for it.
Wolford continued his report, telling Members about some of the personnel changes
within Jet Air. He also spoke about the Stearman Fly -In and how successful it was this
year. Wolford then spoke to Members about Iowa Flight Training, stating that he spoke
to Tim Bush recently and things are staying steady for him.
i. Subcommittee Reports — For October's meeting, the Economic Development
subcommittee may have a report.
j. Commission Members' Reports — Horan spoke briefly about the south development
area at the Airport, stating that he would like to see them work with the City on this and
not make any decisions too quickly. He added that yesterday he once again returned a
CFI to the ground successfully. Ogren shared that she came to the Sertoma event but
didn't stay long. Mascari shared that he is planning a flight to Montana to visit an old
friend.
k. Staff Report —None.
SET NEXT REGULAR MEETING FOR:
The next regular meeting will be Thursday, October 18, 2012, at 6:00 P.M. at the Airport
Terminal building.
ADJOURN:
Mascari made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:57 P.M.; seconded by Horan.
Motion carried 4 -0; Gardinier absent.
Airport Commission
September 20, 2012
Page 4
CHAIRPERSON
DATE
Airport Commission
September 20, 2012
Page 5
Airport Commission
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2012
Key:
X = Present
X/E = Present for Part of Meeting
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = Not a Member at this time
TERM
O
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N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
03/01/13
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Rick
Mascari
03/01/14
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Howard
Horan
Minnetta
03/01/15
X
X
X
X
X
O/
X
X
O/
Gardinier
E
E
Jose
03102/12
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Assouline
Chris
X
X
Ogren
Key:
X = Present
X/E = Present for Part of Meeting
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = Not a Member at this time
i
MINUTES PRELIMINARY
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 — 5:15 PM
CITY HALL, EMMA HARVAT HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: T. Gene Crischilles, Brock Grenis, Will Jennings, Caroline
Sheerin
MEMBERS ABSENT: Larry Baker
STAFF PRESENT: Sarah Walz, Sarah Holecek
OTHERS PRESENT: Ginalie Swaim, Justin Mulford, Lucie Laurian, Martha
Wicherts, Judith Pascoe
RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL:
None.
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order at 5:15 PM.
ROLL CALL: All were present.
A brief opening statement was read by the Chair outlining the role and purpose of the Board and
the procedures that would be followed in the meeting.
CONSIDERATION OF THE JULY 11TH MEETING MINUTES:
Crischilles moved to approve the minutes with minor corrections for July 11th, 2012.
Grenis seconded.
A vote was taken and the motion carried 4 -0.
APPEAL ITEM
APL12- 00002: Discussion of an appeal submitted by Justin Mulford to overturn a decision made
by Iowa City's Historic Preservation Commission that denied a Certificate of Appropriateness for
the demolition of 111 & 115 S. Governor Street in the College Hill Conservation District.
Walz explained that there is a three prong test to determine whether it is appropriate to remove
structures. She said the building must be found structurally unsound and irretrievable, and if the
building is found to be both, the replacement building must meet historic design guidelines. She
said a consulting home inspector and architect were brought in and said while their were defects
in the clay tile foundations, this is not uncommon in older homes, they were not irreparable. She
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page 2 of 8
said these findings did not meet the irretrievable standard and so the application was denied by
the Historic Preservation Commission. Walz said the applicant, now the appellant, did not
provide any evidence or dispute that the buildings were retrievable. She said his argument was
that a new building would last longer than the current buildings. She said what the Board of
Adjustment is deciding is whether the Historic Preservation Commission applied their guidelines
incorrectly and were they arbitrary or capricious in the way they applied them.
Sheerin asked if she was correct in assuming that the Board is not doing its own independent
assessment of the properties.
Walz explained that the Board is reviewing whether the Historic Preservation Commission
followed their guidelines.
Jennings asked if the assertions in the engineer's report are indications that the buildings are
unsound.
Walz said the question is whether the buildings are irretrievable. She said the report indicated
that the foundations are failing.
Ginalie Swaim, the chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, said the engineering report
from VJ Engineering that Jennings referred to is the one the appellant brought to the Historic
Preservation Commission. She said the home and building inspection report is from Steven
Burns, who the City hired. She said the Commission also based their decision on the consultant
Chery Peterson, who is a trained architect with expertise in structural engineering, and on the
two Commission members who are an architect and a building contractor. She said that while
the Commission said there were some structural issues, it never said that the building was
unsound, although the VJ Engineering report may say that.
Jennings said there is a slight difference in language in the two reports, and he wonders if the
reports are filed with intent to assert a certain thing. He said that the VJ Engineering report does
not address the issue of whether the buildings are irretrievable. He asked if it is in the Board's
purview to examine the way in which the decision was made. He wants to know if both reports
are saying that there are structural issues but that the buildings are not irretrievable.
Walz said VJ Engineering never addressed the irretrievable aspect but everyone acknowledged
that there were problems with the foundations.
Jennings said it was not his job to reconcile these different reports in rendering a decision but it
is his purview to understand how those were reconciled.
Holecek said if he would look at the denial of the Certificate of Appropriateness and read the
language that was crafted by the Historic Preservation Commission it says "there are some
features of the buildings that need to be repaired however, based on a report by City staff and a
visit to the buildings and a consulting house inspection, the buildings are repairable."
Grenis asked if the guidelines stated in the staff memo "A Certificate of Appropriateness for
the demolition of any primary building on a contributing property within a conservation or
historic district, or any landmark, will be denied unless the applicant can demonstrate that the
building is structurally unsound and irretrievable." and "Before a Certificate of
Appropriateness for demolition will be approved for a primary building, the Iowa City Historic
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page 3 of 8
Preservation Commission must approve a Certificate of Appropriateness for the building that
will replace the one being demolished." are the only guidelines for which that determination
was made in the three prong test.
Walz said that is correct.
Sheerin opened public hearing.
Justin Mulford, the appellant, said the first prong of the test is if the buildings are structurally
unsound, and he said everyone has determined in one way or the other that they are. He said
what he is appealing is the second prong of the test, which is the irretrievability of the buildings.
He said he has a lot of experience in the construction industry. He said when you get into
foundation work and clay tile ultimately the best repair for that is to jack the houses up and put
new foundations in. He said to do that would be a complete gut of the lower level. He said there
are other ways to put bandages on the foundation but that only lasts for so long and would cost
$5,000 each time you had to repair it. He said regarding the irretrievable aspect, he agreed that
everything can be fixed but to what cost and to what gain until the next time the foundation fails.
He said in the meeting with the Historic Preservation Commission, one member had started to
make a notion to pass his application pending the third prong of the test, He said that member
was interrupted by another member who stated that the application didn't meet the second
prong of the test because the buildings are repairable and retrievable.
Sheerin asked if his argument is that it's repairable but the expense would outweigh anyone
ever repairing it.
Mulford said that everything is repairable but there comes the time when the repairs outweigh
the cost of the building or making it fiscally possible to keep them as rentals and keep them
functioning in a profitable or break -even manner. He said the costs would continue to accrue
with the repairing of the foundations and keeping them structurally sound. He the word
irretrievable is open to interpretation and the way that some people view irretrievable is different.
Grenis asked if Mulford owned the buildings.
Mulford said he did.
Grenis asked if he was saying that he's not going to repair them because of the cost involved.
Mulford said that continually putting bandages on the foundations becomes a huge cost. He
said elevating the buildings would require a huge amount of money and time and then there
would be the lost rent. He said either solution would not make them profitable as rental
properties.
Grenis asked if he had submitted any plans for the design of the fraternity house.
Mulford said he had.
Walz said those had not been submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission. She said if
the Board feels that an error has been made, she recommends that the appellant send those
plans back to the Historic Preservation Commission.
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page 4 of 8
Sheerin asked if there was any case law in what irretrievable means.
Holecek said the question is whether or not the definition as reached by the Historic
Preservation Commission is in error.
Sheerin said it seems to her that this whole case turns on what irretrievable means. She asked
if it means it can never be repaired or if it can only be repaired at such great cost that it's not
worth it.
Jennings said what the Board has to work on are the reports that are in the packet that were
submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission. He said all agreed that there are problems
with structural instability, and in some cases the buildings were referred to as unsound. He said
there is not a report that says clearly and definitively that the structures are beyond the point of
repair or irretrievable. He said in the report from Steven R. Burns it says that, "Nevertheless, a
clay tile foundation is not inherently deficient and can serve indefinitely with proper care and
maintenance." He said there seems to be adequate notifications where there are faults in the
structure and places where the building is structurally problematic but there is no conclusion
anywhere saying that it's irretrievable.
Holecek said the Board's charge is to determine whether the Historic Preservation Commission
acted arbitrarily and capriciously. She said she had not researched the definition of irretrievable.
Sheerin said in order to determine whether they acted arbitrarily and capriciously it would be
helpful to know what irretrievable means.
Walz said that with applications to the Historic Preservation Commission, similar to applications
to the Board of Adjustment, the burden of proof is that of the applicant.
Sheerin said that what the appellant has said in his appeal is that his interpretation of
irretrievable is different.
Holecek said that irretrievability is a regulation, and it could be a taking if it so diminishes the
property value of the appellant by virtue of applying this regulation then that in itself lends itself
to what irretrievable means.
Jennings asked if when the appellant had referred in his previous statements to an interaction
that had occurred at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting did he mean that a formal
motion was underway and the motion was interrupted.
Mulford said that's what he meant.
Jennings asked where that is reflected in the minutes.
Mulford said the Commissioner had started talking and after about 20 seconds was interrupted
by the person who did make the motion for denial.
None of the Board members could find anything in the minutes about this interruption.
Mulford asked that based on the definition of irretrievability, could someone have acted
arbitrarily not knowing the full definition of irretrievability and irretrievable, but at what cost.
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page S of 8
Swaim said the appellant said that everyone more or less agreed that it was unsound in some
way. She said that was not correct. She said that Steven Burns said the buildings are generally
stable, functional and overall repairable and that foundations in both houses are generally intact
and stable. She said Esther Baker began her comments regarding whether the buildings are
unsound and said there are clearly some things that need to be repaired.
Lucie Laurian, 918 E. Washington Street, said she was the Historic Preservation Commission
meeting, and she doesn't remember any interruptions. She said she's not hearing that the
buildings are unsound, because if they are, the buildings should not be occupied. She said at
the meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, someone said there were nine tenants
and were over - rented because the buildings were grandfathered in at a higher occupancy rate
than would be currently allowed. She said if they were unsound, you wouldn't want even more
individuals renting than would be normally allowed. She said she had previously lived in a
building from 1916 with mud tile, so it's not the case that repairs using this kind of material
would be short term. She said she doesn't think that the $5,000 that the appellant had said it
would cost to fix the foundations doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when you have a
rooming house with maximum tenants and are probably getting a high return on these
properties. She said she doesn't think they are unsound or irretrievable, even when money
comes into the picture. She said she is actually worried about demolition by abandonment
because she hearing a landlord who is hesitant to make repairs because he thinks they cost too
much. She said she doesn't want to see the properties get so run down that in five years they
have to be demolished.
Walz said the Historic Preservation Commission did address that issue, and demolition by
neglect is not allowed.
Martha Wicherts of 816 E. College Street said she grew up on College Street and owned one
next door. She said everything goes back to the definition of the word irretrievable. She said it's
hard not to get into whether we want it demolished or not. She said if someone acted arbitrarily
it's only because there is not a definition. She said she thinks they need a cost analysis to
decide whether it is cost effective to demolish the houses and build new ones or to repair them.
She asked if that wouldn't decide the definition of irretrievable in this case.
Holecek said what they had discussed before was the touchstone for a regulatory taking is if the
value is so diminished as a result of the regulation that it eviscerates the value of the building.
She said it was incumbent on the applicant to present evidence to show that it would be
irretrievable.
Wicherts said she is all for historic, and she has two historic homes. She said those two houses
are awful where they are. She said for her to make a good decision, being completely neutral,
she needs to know if the numbers do come out, if it is more expensive to repair those homes
than it would be to build a new home that fits the architecture of that neighborhood. She asked if
those numbers are ever going to come out.
Sheerin stated that the Board is only reviewing the record before them.
Judith Pascoe of 317 Fairchild Street said she would be very sorry if the sole determination of
how the Board made their decision was on cost effectiveness. She said anybody who had lived
in an old house knows there is nothing cost effective about them, and in her mind, these houses
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page 6 of 8
don't owe anyone a living. She said owners of old houses know they are money pits, and she
doesn't think it's any City board's responsibility to ensure someone a maximum profit on their
rental property. She said she was at the original meeting of the Historic Preservation
Commission, and she doesn't remember any member leaning toward asking for blue prints and
wanting to discuss a plan for a new building. She said she has lived in houses with foundation
problems, and there are things you can do that aren't the same as lifting up the entire house
and doing a major repair. She said if you buy a house in a conservation district, you know it's
the City's priority to try and maintain the look of the neighborhood and try to maintain these old
houses. She said she thinks these houses are quite beautiful and with care could be show
pieces.
Sheerin closed public hearing.
Grenis moved to approve the appeal submitted by Justin Mulford to overturn a decision
made by Iowa City's Historic Preservation Commission that denied a Certificate of
Appropriateness for the demolition of 111 and 115 South Governor Street in the College
Hill Conservation District.
Jennings seconded.
Sheerin invited discussion on the motion.
Crischilles said he thinks it's pretty clear that Mr. Mulford himself admitted in his application that
the damage to the buildings was fixable, and they are retrievable, so that fails the second prong
of the test. He said the fact that weren't any plans submitted at the Historic Preservation
Commission meeting fails the third prong of the test. He said he thinks the decision was
appropriate and was not capricious and was by the book.
Grenis said he thought the decision was sound. He said from what the Board could review there
was some disagreement as to the overall soundness of the building, but he said there was
enough evidence to show that their decision was justified.
Jennings said that working with the materials in front of the Board, which are the same materials
that the Historic Preservation Commission had to work from he is in concurrence with the
opinions of the other members of the Board. He said he doesn't see capriciousness or
arbitrariness reflected in the minutes and because he wasn't at the meeting, he can't judge
whether someone was interrupted or interrupted a motion. He said as to the larger issue of
where and how irretrievability is a function of available construction methods or cost benefit
analysis he thinks that they would likely run into the same situation of people giving cost
estimates or the best practice to deal with this that will vary widely. He said a dollar figure or
ratio is not represented in their materials, and he said to address it would be to buy into a either
or fallacy, and what seems to be in the ruling of the Historic Preservation Commission is that it
is not an either or situation in terms of conditions of the homes but that the application does fail
to meet the three prong test.
Sheerin concurred with what has been said. She said the bottom line is even if there was a
question about what irretrievability means, there is no evidence in the record that this would be
fiscally impossible to fix the homes. She said there is nothing in the record saying that it's
impossible or irretrievable or that the cost does outweigh the benefit of having an historic home
or that it would be a taking. She said she sees nothing in the record to indicate that the Historic
Board of Adjustment
September 13, 2012
Page 7 of 8
Preservation Commission was acting capriciously or arbitrarily.
A vote was taken and the appeal failed 0-4.
Sheerin declared the motion denied, noting that anyone wishing to appeal the decision to a
court of record may do so within 30 days after the decision is filed with the City Clerk's Office.
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT INFORMATION:
There was none.
ADJOURNMENT:
Jennings moved to adjourn.
Grenis seconded.
The meeting was adjourned on a 4 -0 vote.
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Page 1 of 23
Minutes
Human Rights Commission
September 18, 2012 — 6 P.M.
Helling Conference Room
PRELIMINARY
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Members Present: Harry Olmstead, Connie Goeb, Orville Townsend Sr., Dan Tallon, Kim
Hanrahan, Shams Ghoneim.
Members Excused: Diane Finnerty, Jessie Harper, Howard Cowen.
Staff Present: Stefanie Bowers.
Others Present: Gregory Hamot.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Human Rights Commission meeting of
September 18, 2012.
Recommendations to Council: None.
Call to Order:
Chair Olmstead called the meeting to order at 18:00.
Consideration of the Minutes of the August 21, 2012 Meeting:
Townsend moved to approve minutes, seconded by Ghoneim.
Motion passed. 6 -0.
New Business:
a. University of Iowa Center for Human Rights
GH: What am I exactly here to do for you today Harry and Stefanie?
HO: Well we'd like some more information on what's going with the center and its future.
GH: There will be an article tomorrow in the Press Citizen that describes a lot of this, which is
serendipitous that it's going to be tomorrow after the meeting today because they just started to
interview people two days ago. I was the last person to interview this afternoon.
KH: I'm sorry I don't know who you are.
GH: My name is Greg Hamot and I'm the Professor of Education at the University of Iowa and I'm
the Director of the Center for Human Rights, at least at this point. A very brief overview of the
history of the center might be helpful to start with because it will help you to understand where
we are today. The center is an outgrowth of an event that took in 1998, actually 98 -99, which
was what was called Global Focus `98 headed up by Burns Weston. I was on that committee
with people from all over the University, all the colleges and all the schools had members on that
committee. That committee was put together by Provost John Whitmore in order to celebrate the
50th anniversary of the signing on December 10, 1948 of the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. If you were around in 1998 you might remember that we brought
in Lech Walesa, we brought in and Desmond Tutu as speakers. We brought in
Page 2 of 23
many scholars from around the world who did small seminars with our students and community
members and so on. It was a yearlong event. At the end of that yearlong event the four people
who were very instrumental in the town gown combination of all of these ideas. Burns Weston,
Gina K., which wasn't her name at the time. She got married since then to George and I
can't remember what it used to be. She is in sponsored programs at the University, the grant
office. Rex Honey from the Department of Geography, and Dorothy Paul who was a member of
this Commission for a long time. Dorothy and these four decided well what are we going to do
now? We've done this wonderful thing and what are we going to do now. They were
adventurous enough and visionary enough to then decide to create a center, which literally was
one desk in Rex's old office in the international programs building, which was the old law school
that is now where the public health college is. We had a phone and a desk and we started the
center. Burns wrote up the by -laws and we had a committee or an executive board, which we still
do and Harry is a member of that board. A member from this Commission has been on that board
for years, probably forever, is one of the standing seats on the board. We did a lot of tremendous
things over the 13 years we were in existence, including a huge contract with the Department of
Labor. It was called Child Labor Research Initiative. We helped subvent scholarly books and
articles. We had book readings and article readings that were offered to the university
community for the last ten or eleven years now. We've done One Community One Book, which
used to be called all Johnson County Reads. One Community One Book is a book that centers on
a human rights issue. We try to shoot for a non - fiction, and this Sunday the author of this year's
book will be presenting at 5:00. The name of the book is Late Homecomer, and she is from
Minneapolis but she is Hmong. It's about the Hmong community and their diaspora. It's a pretty
good book. We now have a certificate program for undergraduates that we design, this is the
third year and we have about 75 students enrolled. Harry has the flyer if you want to come and
see her talk. It's in the packet and if you want to come Sunday. It's usually about an hour long
and you can ask questions afterwards. We usually have a nice crowd. If you're not familiar with
One Community One Book it's done throughout Johnson County, so we have libraries in North
Liberty and Hills, and all the librarians participate. They have about 21 discussion groups during
the course of the fall and then we bring the author in. We have the Cmiel Internship Program,
Ken Cmiel Professor of History at the University of Iowa who passed suddenly and unfortunately
for us about six years ago, was a director of the center and a scholar in human rights history. We
named an award after him for an internship program in the summer where we send students, both
undergraduate and graduate to all parts of the world to work with _ on human rights issues.
There is the Weston Internship, which is sponsored by Burns Weston and it's always a law
student who will work with an advocacy group like Amnesty International or Human Rights
Watch. So we send them to London, New York and places like that over the summer. We have
our own internal internship program for undergraduates and graduates, about ten interns a year
who help run our Careers for Change Program which brings in people from all over the country to
talk about different careers in human rights, or human rights related activities. We have always
brought in for instance the world food prize recipient from Des Moines the week that they are
here to give a talk, and have a sponsored lunch for them. I'm probably leaving some things out
Harry. The Bums Weston Essay Contest, which is for all three Regent's Universities on both the
undergraduate and graduate level. There are monetary prizes and we put together peer review
boards from our board members and faculty members to read these papers and decide the
winners. There are lots of other things we do that are ad hoc such as, maybe a better way to say it
as spur of the moment such as community forums on for instance two years ago we did the right
to health care during the great health care debate in Congress. We did Islamaphobia a few years
ago. So we do things of that nature. All of this will be coming to an end at the end of this fiscal
year on June 30, 2013 as the university has deemed that unworthy of financial support.
Consequently as you probably well know being involved in human rights as much as you are our
only option was to become self - supporting, and in order to be self - supporting you need to be able
Page 3 of 23
to get grants and find people with lots of money who want to endow your center. There aren't a
lot of people who want to do either of those two things because human rights is not unfortunately
a big ticket item for the United States government right now, as far as funding is concerned, nor
does it appeal to anyone in the universities wider community of donors. One would think with
Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State that we would have had a fighting chance, but it's just a
monetary issue. If we were to do human rights activities that are funded there are things like
creating schools in Ghana and we don't do that kind of work being a university. I mean literally
you put in the proposal how many planks of wood you need and how many PVC pipes you'll
need, you build the school. We just can't do those kinds of things. The Child Labor Research
Initiative was something that we got from the Department of Labor almost at the dawn of the
center, and we're using the last of that million plus dollar contract this year to pay salaries. That
was designed for us to develop the first ever digital database on child labor laws and abuses in
key nations across the world that Congress was giving foreign aid to. So that when a foreign aid
to a certain country would come up they'd be able to go to our database and say here's what your
laws are and here is what you're doing. You need to straighten these things out before the
American public gets their large give you their tax dollars to improve your condition. That's
what generated that project, but there was, I was editor of a curriculum for middle school and
high school students that went online worldwide as part of that project. We wrote a book as part
of that project. There were many seminars that shot off of that as part of that project. That kind
of money is not available anymore.
DT: What was your budget prior to or?
GH: The center does everything I just mentioned and more that I haven't mentioned because I just
can't remember it all with three half -time staff members and a graduate assistant. The budget is
between programing monies to do all this and salaries are $150,000 a year.
HO: I don't think you mentioned Human Rights Certificate Programing.
GH: I did mention that, but I didn't mention the Human Rights Index that we publish in the Iowa
Review every edition. It's kind of like the one what is it the Atlantic Monthly. It's modeled after
one of the other big named journals or magazines in the country where they have an index in the
front cover, where you read what is the update on that particular concept. So it's about $130,000
for salaries and benefits and about $20,000 to support the activities.
DT: What is the future of some of your programs?
GH: Well here is what happened. When we started it and we never did have huge financial backing
from anything other than the grant, the contracts that we had in grants. The provost on three year
increments agreed to support the center if we could find self - funding, and about four years ago
that was stopped. So through fund raising efforts and donations I was able to keep the place open
to pay the salaries and international programs, which is part of the Provost Office subvented in
part the program monies, but we just don't have anything left after this year.
DT: What programs do you do now will continue?
GH: The Certificate Program will continue in the College of Education where I reside with my
appointment and I'll be directing it. Our dean has been gracious enough to take it in. The
College of Law will take the Cmiel Internship. I'm sure the Weston Internship because that's
from the College of Law. That's all that has been taken.
Page 4 of 23
DT: Will the One Community One Book continue?
GH: That will die yeah unless someone picks it up. As Harry knows from being on the board we had a
suggestion from one of the Associate Provosts, not the one in charge of International Programs, to
come up for a vision for the center, kind of a five year prospectus and to present it to key deans at
the University who would be involved in issues of human rights like the College of Law, the
College of Public Health, the College of Education, the Associate Vice President for Diversity
Georgina Dodge, who I'm sure you are all familiar with. The Associate Provost for Continuing
Education, and the Associate Provost for International Programs. Burns and I presented this to
them and they were just not interested in supporting the center. So we did the best we could
internally to get some kind of support, but at this point we are going to close on June 30th.
OT: That that you mentioned about child laws and things like that, that seems like a real of
something to have access to. Is anybody going to pick that up and take it over?
GH: Do you remember the tornado a few years ago? That actually destroyed the server on which all
that data were contained, and if you remember that was about six or seven years ago, and we
didn't have the kind of security for these things we have today. We had no backups and it got
lost as a result, so no one will pick that up. Quite frankly you know it's a decision the University
has to make based on its own finances. We are not like most centers in the country. They are
attached mainly to law colleges, but they are very focused on just human rights law. We didn't
want that and Burns didn't want that and the others who started it. We wanted something that
was more cross collegiate and cross disciplinary because you deal with human rights in medicine
and dentistry, in pharmacology and education and all the liberal arts. It's not something that is a
concept that fits in a discipline, all the disciplines fit in a concept you see. That's how we
envisioned it, but it never was able to become self - generating.
SG: Since regrettably the University vision has been altered, is there any possibility that the center
become like others in the country under the law school?
GH: Burns has requested from Dean A has sent a proposal to do so. Her response has been at this
point and time they can't afford it is basically her response.
SG: Do you really feel and maybe that's not a good question to ask. But do you feel that $150,000 is
such a hardship for the University or the law school? I have to ask that question because to me
it's just like...
GH: You're recording this aren't you.
SG: That's fine.
GH: It's a drop in the bucket. It's the north end zone for one football game.
DT: How does the Certificate Program compare with other Certificate Programs in terms of like
enrollment and things like that?
GH: It's smaller, on campus or nationwide?
DT: The Human Rights Certificate Program compared with like the philanthropy certificate program
or the non - profit certificate program.
Page 5 of 23
GH: We're going to be bigger than most of those because students are attracted, I mean they have 75
students in less than three years, two years plus _. It's pretty popular and that's why it's worth
maintaining as best we can. There was an idea at one time of trying to put as much of it online as
possible if not make the whole version of it online because then you can accrue revenue from
those courses. But it's very hard to get people to do that at our university and most universities.
The professors are set in their ways and so we never were able to get enough, large enough and
fast enough to beat this rush to close it down. Maybe in the future that's something, I mean I
know my dean wants to explore doing it because we were looking for worldwide audience. We
weren't just looking for Iowa students or people from Iowa. We were looking for people from all
over the world to be a part of this, and down the road in that five year prospectus that we wrote,
we included things like you know having particular areas where if you were a nurse in
Switzerland in Lucerne you can get a Human Rights Certificate with a nursing focus. If you're a
doctor in Bali you can get one with a medical focus, and we would have this menu that would be
constructed, but that takes time to develop that. It takes a commitment to vision as Reverend Al
Sharpen wants to quote from scripture, "without a vision people the people perish." I think this
goes back to your question to be honest with you other than the bottom line.
SG: But really to me I'm trying to be optimistic here and grasp at anything because I'm so for the
center to keep going. If say the College of Education under the current leadership, which
apparently quite supportive, has the opportunity or the time or the resources, how long would it
take them to have sort of like that virtual center? There are a lot of now issues about how there's
virtual medicine, there's virtual courses all over the...
GH: What do you mean by virtual?
SG: Sort of remote courses, online courses as well.
GH: Really if we could...
SG: I mean how long it takes I guess.
GH: This is a great question and I'll give you an answer and a dollar figure. I would really like, see
I'm gonna have to let all the staff go. Liz Crooks our secretary is leaving on Thursday, day after
tomorrow. She's gotten a job at the Graduate College and I wrote her a recommendation. Part of
the reason I fought so hard to keep it open when I didn't have any money was to, people have
families to feed. I wanted to make sure the staff who did such a great job had the opportunity to
find other places to work. Liz has found one over at the Graduate College and Joan _, who
runs One Community One Book, she does work part-time from home and I think she's going to
concentrate on that. She is a medical record archivist for the University of Missouri and a few
other places. But if I could keep Amy Weismann because her dedication to the certificate
program is really important. If I could somehow, and this is we're talking between $30- 40,000 a
year. My dean has committed to paying for the graduate assistant Kelsey Kramer and whoever
succeeds her to continue to work on the certificate program. I really need someone like Amy who
has a broader and more mature view of things. I can't do it all myself. I mean I have my own,
I'm Professor of Social Studies Education and I've got my own work to do. I can't do all the
course teaching. I teach an overload of six course and you're supposed to teach four. I direct the
center, run this new program on living with floods to educate kids across Iowa about the 2008 and
2011 floods out of the College of Education in conjunction with Hancher and the College of
Engineering. I run the convocation for the college. I'm the program coordinator for Secondary
and Elementary Social Studies. If I could have Amy supported somehow to keep the certificate
Page 6 of 23
program going and we build up over time this revenue from the online courses we could reinvent
the center in a decade maybe.
SG: The other thing too is if you partner with say the Health Science Colleges.
GH: We would do all that if I had someone like Amy who could get rid of all of her other duties as
Deputy Director of the center because it's gonna end, and just concentrate on that until its full
blown. She would do that yeah. See I can't get away enough to do that from what I have to do.
It would be terrific if I could somehow come up with the revenue stream that would commit to
paying her. She's half -time because she has a child at home, that would be great, but off this
record I'm very tired. I'm tired of knocking on doors with hat in hand because it's the only way
we've been able to make it survive for the last couple of years.
SG: We're very grateful that it has.
GH: It's the only way we could do it and there are really nice people in town who have given $5,000
or $1,000 or $100. The faculty gave a $1,000 each. They challenged each other two years ago on
the board, the faculty members all pitched in. Bums has done a tremendous amount of financial
contribution. He's very upset about the decision.
SG: It needs institutional commitment.
GH: You can't get a grant to support yourself unless you have institutional commitment. How could
you go to the United States Department of State and say we want to do a human rights project or
we want to do one of your projects that you have on your menu, and they say write a proposal.
What do you write in the proposal? We have no staff unless you give us the money. They are
gonna say well then you have no foundation to build on. It's a catch -22 and the administration of
the University feels that there are too many centers, and feels that there is no room for something
like us at this point and time.
HO: One of the large losses I see coming from this is One Community One Book project, and I was
wondering if this Commission were to decide at some point to pick it up, what sort of price tag is
involved in that program?
GH: Well what Joan does if you wanted Joan to do it I think you should hire her to do it. What she
does is she solicits funds and raises some money, and I think this year we're going to do the
whole thing for less than $3,000, not counting her salary. But as far as you know we create based
on the book, I don't have it here, but it's based on that poster you have in your packet. There are
bookmarks we hand out to the students and the members of the community that come to the
readings and the discussions. We do a lot of promotion of it in these communities so people
know where to go and what time, which library is hosting that one that day. Pat Schnack who is a
long time Iowa Citian. You might know Pat and she's the co- director of it with Joan. You'd
have to talk to Joan, Harry but I think that she'd probably be amenable to keeping it going. It
would be great if the community did pick up a little chunk of the center and like the College of
Education is picking up, and the Law School is picking up, and we maintain some of these things.
The big losers here are students. The careers for changes, the internship programs, and all the
things we did for the different human rights clubs and organizations on campus. Just through
promoting their interests through our e- digest, our little newsletter that you get for instance
electronically every week or so. It was tremendously helpful to the students on campus. They
won't have that anymore, that advocacy. The One Community One Book you'd have to sit down
with Joan, but I think we didn't have more than $3,000 this year to spend on it, and she's bringing
Page 7 of 23
the author in from Minneapolis and has done all the posters. I don't know if we put them on the
busses anymore, but we used to. The buses and the cambuses, on the walls that curve like that
you could put them in frames. I think that's something if you're interested email Joan and have
her come to the Commission and have her talk a little bit about what it would take. I don't know
what your wherewithal is so I can't even imagine how you would do it, but that's up to you.
SG: Some thought ah was in the Iowa City Press Citizen editorial today and they were talking about
some of these issues.
GH: Well I asked Jeff if he would delay this and Tara, because we have a board meeting November
2nd and you got an email from me this evening about announcing this article tomorrow. I didn't
want the board to be the last to know. They knew already it was on, it was going to close. The
reason I asked Jeff and Tara to delay the story is because we don't want, I mean I didn't say it this
way to them. But I don't want the article to antagonize the administration into not wanting to do
anything, and what I really would like to see is if they would wait until at least maybe Burns is
back in a couple of weeks. They did interview Burns in the article, but to see if there are other
entities on campus who will pick up some of the stuff still. I don't know yet.
SG: I don't know what tomorrow's article is gonna be specifically word for word, but what I was
saying that some of the information that they were sharing today was that the One Book
specifically, that there are other options maybe through the , Iowa City
GH: What do we call the city of literature. Joan has been talking with them.
SG: Right so there are I think other possibilities. Maybe through the Iowa City Public Library. I'm
hoping that that article is going to do so.
GH: I think One Community One Book is really one of the less expensive things we do considering
how many people it touches. You have to realize that One Community One Book in Iowa City is
very unique. It's a program all over the country, it's not just here. I think we're the only one that
has the book always have a human rights theme. In other communities it's not that way, it's
whatever the committee decides on, non - fiction or fiction or whatever. It could be Alice in
Wonderland, it doesn't have to be a human rights issue.
DT: Was the book a couple years ago about child soldiers?
GH: Yes we brought Ismael Baya here. This was an idea that other universities had tried and again
they weren't interested in keeping it going. There has always been this urge at Iowa to try to get
the students retained better, more retention percentage and they are doing better now. One of the
things that they thought might help is if all the freshman read the same book, and it was taught in
the rhetoric classes because every freshman has to take rhetoric. It's part of the general education
requirements. The rhetoric department was on board, but their policies are they don't tell their
graduate assistants who teach courses because there are 4,000 freshman. They don't tell them
what to teach so not all of them taught it, but those who taught it they were successful results.
We did do an evaluation of analysis of the project and there was positive response. It's a $70,000
a year price tag and they weren't interested in it, and that's not bad. That's counting buying every
kid the book. That book, the publisher of his book because of the deal that we had if you opened
the book the first thing you saw was a letter from the President of the University to the students
on University letterhead on that little page about this program. I told the Associate Provost and I
told the President this is something that during your capital campaign would be, I can't imagine
you can't find someone who will endow this. For a million bucks, I mean half a million bucks or
Page 8 of 23
less than that. What's twenty times seventy? Ali $140,000, well we'd be 1.4 million then
actually. For 1.4 million in endowment they can have their name on every book read by every
freshman until they are dead and long be composed. That's a hell of a tribute to a donor.
SG: It's a living legacy.
GH: Exactly, you know the Harry Olmstead all freshman read's program. It will go on until you're
long gone Harry. My point simply being that no interest because if you're gonna do that you've
got to go through the foundation and it is the University that tells the foundation what they need
and then they go out and look for it, and we're not on their radar.
HO: Greg I want to thank you so very much for coming. Hopefully something in the future will
happen.
GH: I mean there are miracles, whether they're man made or not, and we have until June 30d' for
manna to fall from heaven or for someone to say this is a worthy enterprise for the University of
Iowa and the State of Iowa. The endowment would have to be about, what is 20 times $150,000?
Three million? Three million dollars would keep the center open forever, but that's a lot of
money but it would named after whoever gave that three million dollars. Then that would include
One Community One Book, that would be part of that. That would be for staff and for
programming so.
HO: Thank you so much.
SB: One question, do you think the article tomorrow may help keep the center open?
GH: I've been around and teaching for 37 years, and I've been 15 years as a high school teacher, over
20 years now as a University Professor. When administrations make up their minds it's over, it's
over. There is nothing that they are going to do. That's why I say if someone showed up with
three million bucks they'd be more than happy to take it. They probably convinced them first to
see if they could build another scoreboard, but if they didn't say that they said no we want it for
the center of human rights they'd take it. They're not gonna turn it down.
SG: But maybe the article will give other people from the community food for thought.
GH: It will to maybe think about investing yes. It won't budge the University and nor will public
sentiment, nothing will budge the University.
SG: No I mean to donate directly to the program under the auspice of the education.
GH: We could do it through donations to the foundation account that the College of Education has. In
a way I don't blame the Provost, I mean his point is centers need to have collegiate homes or self -
supporting, collegiate home meaning the college that it's in pays for it or self - supporting. Well
we just don't do something that people are willing to give money for, but they all want it. They
all want the human rights, but they just don't see it as something worth supporting so. It's kind of
a conundrum but true. Thank you for your time and thank you for listening. Harry we have a
meeting November 2nd and you'll be getting a briefing on it soon.
b. Iowa Latino Conference
Page 9 of 23
HO: We sponsored this last year
SB: Yes the Commission gave $100 last year. It looks like its October 12 -131' and the various
activities of the conference will be held on campus at the University, and then also it looks like
some of the activities are at the Iowa City Public Library. One of the reasons just to summarize
the letter is that they're asking for donations is to assist with keeping the registration fees low for
participants or people who would register. Also it helps them advertise so it increases their
visibility. That is the primary reasons why they are asking for supplemental funds.
OT: I move that the donate $100 to fulfill the request.
HO: There is a motion on the floor, any further discussion?
SG: What is our budget?
SB: I mean this is how, my answer really never changes because generally the Commission co-
sponsorships is between $1,000 41200 a year, but you know everyone's budget is getting smaller
so what Professor Hamot was talking about I mean that's everywhere. I say that today but in
January it could be less than that.
SG: How much did we spend or what is our present balance?
SB: To date I think you're only at $250 or maybe $300 because it would have started July I", so
pretty low.
SG: That's all we have right now.
SB: That's all that has been spent.
SG: What do you think is our projection until the next fiscal year?
SB: It would probably still be that $1,000 41,200 range, but I mean if there are budget cuts or
something like that generally we wouldn't take from the Commission, but I can't...
KH: As a new Commissioner I'm not clear what we've sponsored in the past.
SB: When everybody joined they should have gotten, I send out what I call a brag book, and it has all
the flyers of events. Look at the packet it has the annual reports, it has flyers of activities, the
annual reports would give you what the Commission has done and the case resolution numbers
and all that information. In fact I've kind of wondered with Dan and Jesse if it's worth sending
out because I'm not real clear that people are responsive to the packet.
DT: I was interested in the case resolution portion more, but I did read it.
SB: I think now we have a better copier now so it may be easier to do it electronically in the future
too, which would be a pretty good sized file to send. I'll have to talk to ITS to see if we can
condense it down. I didn't know if anybody read them.
SG: So this time of the year you think if we give the $100 we're okay for whatever is presented for the
rest? Thank you.
Page 10 of 23
Townsend moved, seconded by Tallon.
Motion passed. 6 -0.
Old Business:
a. Human Rights Breakfast
SB: The nominations and the press release went out today, well I should say the press release
soliciting nominations went out today, and I sent it via email to all the Commissioners too. I'm
still working on the flyer for the actual breakfast that would advertise the speaker, which would
hopefully garner some ticket sales as well as nominations. The speaker this year will be Chad
Simmons, who is Executive Director of Diversity Focus. The breakfast will be held on October
30`h, which is a Tuesday. The date was changed, and the day. Usually since I've been here for
whatever reason just out of tradition I guess it was always held on a Thursday, but this year
Tuesday just works out better so.
SG: What time is it Tuesday?
SB: I advertise it as the program starting at 7:30 sharp which it does, and it will be held at the
Sheridan again. I advertise on the ticket and the press releases 7:15 because the breakfast is ready
usually around 7:00. So some people may show up right at 7:30 kind of thinking there's more of
a window there and there's really not. At 7:30 somebody is at the podium speaking, and so I
think most people who attend are regulars and so they know that, but for those new folks getting
there before 7:30 is probably best.
SG: And for us the Commissioners what time do you want us?
SB: What time have you guys shown up in the past? It's like 6:45 is the earliest time, and that
primarily depends on the roles people are playing too. We'll get that figured out at the next
meeting I think we'll be fine there, but you always need two Commissioners at the table in front
of the ballroom to collect tickets. Then you have the Commissioner who would be doing the
introduction of the speaker, and then you would have the Commissioner who was introducing the
honorees, and then you have the Commissioner who wraps it up and says have a good day. If
anybody has a role in mind just send me an email, but I think we can probably get that worked
out at the next meeting. In the past I think we've always given preference seniority wise if there
is somebody who has been on the Commission longer who would want a specific role. I mean
people have never fought over the various positions. I would say Jerry and I show up at like 5:30
and Jerry is the person who records it each year for us from City Cable. We'll get that figured
out, but if anybody has a specific role in mind let me know. Ticket sales at the door you know I
really discourage that even in advertising because you have to give a number. I usually cut off
the ticket sales three days before, but of course you always have people who may show up. It's
primarily collecting tickets and if somebody is paying at the door, you know making sure you get
their name and how they paid. If they paid in cash particularly because I need to know who made
the cash payment.
HO: The city pays for the Commissioners.
SB: Correct thank you and the cost is $25 this year and each Commissioner gets a ticket on behalf of
the city so.
DT: What does the money support?
Page 11 of 23
SB: Well there is no money; the money goes to pay for the event. There is no profit and we get
plaques for the winners, and if anybody would like to I can certainly send you the DVD of last
years. I mean it's literally an hour so if you just wanted to take a look at it to kind of get a feel for
how it goes, or when we meet up I can give you a copy too. If I forget just remind me.
HO: Any other discussion on the Human Rights breakfast?
SB: I do have one more thing to add. Burns Weston who you heard Greg Hamot speak of just a few
moments ago expressed interest in speaking at the breakfast for 2013. I told him it was kind of
early, but that I would let each of you know and that I would get back to him as far as whether
you wanted to wait until it was closer in time next year to make that decision before making a
commitment this early.
OT: So what would most likely his topic be?
SB: Human rights and any more specific than that I really don't know. He didn't expand and I didn't
inquire.
HO: I personally don't feel comfortable making that decision this year when we have a new
Commission board coming in January. I'd rather postpone that decision until next year.
CG: You never know what issues are gonna come up in the meantime also, more pressing or more
relevant or something specific that's going on. I agree with Harry and I wouldn't want to make
the decision now.
SB: If that's what the Commission is wanting me to do I can just send him a short email or even, right
now he's out of the country. He comes back I want to say in late October.
SG: Maybe how we can present it or respond to him is say that each year we have a pool of potential
candidates to be speakers, and we would have your name on the list. I think this is just the way to
do it since he was one of several and he wasn't available this year, we can say well we're gonna
transfer your name to next year's list again.
KH: Stefanie how are the tickets working for the breakfast? Are we responsible for any of the sales?
SB: That has always been encouraged. Some Commissions were better at that than others. Some felt
more comfortable with it than others, but I mean any sale a Commissioner can make is terrific.
KH: What is the capacity for the breakfast?
SB: I mean really they could do up to 200 in the Sheridan. They could do more, I mean they do the I
Club there, it's huge. They could accommodate quite a large number so. It would be great, but
I'm not fearful of that.
CG: We have an average of about how many?
SB: It's changed over time you know the ticket prices have gone up, and so that takes away from the
number of people who would buy. Speakers sometimes influences the number of tickets you sell
or honorees sometimes influence the number of ticket sales. I would say anywhere I've seen as
Page 12 of 23
high as 165 to maybe kind of 125 or 130. If anybody wants tickets to sell I would more than
happy to put those tickets in your hand and have you sell them. That would be terrific.
HO: Stefanie don't we need to get a committee together for the nominees to make decisions?
SB: Yes and I think the next meeting date will still be okay because the due date for the nominations
is not until the 15th which is a Monday at 4:30 just so that there are not some that may be in the
mail postmarked. The next meeting is October 16t", so if you want to set up a sub - committee
tonight that would probably be good so that we would know who would be doing that. It can be
anywhere from, I mean obviously more than one Commissioner but no more than four.
KH: Is there a scoring sheet or is it just informal discussion?
SB: It's an informal discussion. Certainly you can create a scoring sheet. That hasn't been done in
the past, but that is certainly permissible if that's more of the comfort level of that group who is
making the decisions.
DT: Would it be appropriate at the breakfast to not ask anyone for support of the University Center for
Human Rights, but at least let them know that its closing and if they're interested in more
information to contact them?
SB: I certainly think that's fine and I think that can be written into the opening.
DT: I know I've heard that the center is closing and I've gone to some of their events
HO: Do I hear some volunteers to serve on the sub - committee?
KH: Is that a one meeting to review?
SB: Correct.
HO: Stefanie usually sends out the emails over the applicant's scores and it's a matter of reviewing
those and then getting together as a committee to make decisions. Connie and I served on it last
year along with David Brown.
KH: I would volunteer.
SG: I would but I'll be overseas from the P to the 14th.
HO: Do I hear someone who is going to be the convener to get the meeting together?
SG: When would be the deadline for the sub - committee to give to you?
SB: I would say if they could meet that 15`h that would be terrific, if not the first thing on the 16,h of
October because I have to get letters or emails. I have to notify the folks and get plaques made,
and ads made with the winners announced so it's a pretty short turnaround.
HO: Okay we have two people, anybody interested to be on that committee?
DT: I actually plan on nominating somebody so.
Page 13 of 23
SB: Well you could probably just um for that particular yeah.
DT: Okay I'll do it.
HO: Okay Dan.
KH: Can we tentatively look at the morning of October 16d9.
SB: Sure and if you want I can try to reserve a room here or you can meet at, I mean in the past at
people's homes too.
Discussion was ongoing on when and where to meet -
SB: It would really be great if it could be so I would have that day to kind of get going on that stuff.
That would be preferred but I realize schedules don't always permit that.
KH: So what would you prefer?
SB: The earlier the better would be best.
SG: So what time are we talking about?
OT: October 16"'.
KH: At around 9:00.
SB: You want me to reserve a room here?
KH: Yes please.
SB: To answer Kim's question about advertisements. The advertisements ran in the Press Citizen and
there's a city -wide press release, which goes out to virtually any media in the area. In addition it
goes out to all subscribers. It also goes out via email, postcards and usually there are
advertisements put up at city facilities on the buses and an ad is ran on city channel four. So quite
a lot of different ways.
b. Letter in Support of Center for Human Rights
HO: Draft letter for University Iowa Center for Hunan Rights. It's in your packet Item 5 -b. It's
addressed to President Sally Mason. I think in light of what we've heard tonight I think we
should go ahead and send a letter of our support. I think it's very important.
DT: I like that it asks for an update too so.
HO: Okay do I hear a motion to accept this letter of support or are there any changes?
Ghoneim moved, seconded by Tallon.
HO: Are there any changes to the letter that anybody wants to make?
Page 14 of 23
CG: Should we copy our visitor tonight as well?
SB: Sure.
Motion passed. 6 -0.
SB: I should mention that the Press Citizen made contact with the office concerning this matter and
they probably tried calling you.
SG: They did already.
SB: So they are familiar with the draft letter and whether they would incorporate that into the article I
don't know, but it's a possibility. I made clear it was a draft. I mean it's definitely not a final
COPY.
HO: I did not have time to call them back yesterday, but I would have just told them it's a draft letter.
SG: She never mentioned even the letter when she called me. She wanted to know my experience
with the center.
OT: One of the things just from listening to Greg is we might consider two options of the letter. The
first option is we would send the letter you know expressing concern in support of the center and
asking for them to reconsider, which will be at one level. Or we could take a look at what he was
saying and basically come to what would be a secondary because what I hear him saying is
it would be ideal to get that to keep the whole thing . I thought I heard him
saying that to keep it from dying they could have a secondary plan that would have certain people
doing certain things, and basically that would keep it going. If we're gonna send a letter you
know do we want to just ask for the whole bundle or do we want to give them an option?
DT: Could we ask what would they be willing to support?
SG: I don't think we're really in a position to do that. I mean we are trying in my humble opinion
anyway. We are trying to, I mean what's in the letter think in my opinion kind of covers we're
first saying we are supportive and why, and then we're asking what is the feasibility of keeping it
open and to keep us abreast of what's gonna happen next. So I think that covers it.
DT: I like the feasibility part because I think that if they come back and say well we just don't have
$150,00 we can say like do you like this One Community One Book? Why don't you continue
that or...
SG: Yes because right now, this is our first response. They obviously will have to respond back.
Then when they respond back we can think about how or if even we want to address these issues.
OT: The reason I made my suggestions is because I'm pretty sure I already know what the response is
going to be, and they don't have to justify it. They're going to say that due to budget restraints,
but I think that they're gonna be getting pressure from every side, and basically if they get enough
pressure they might just want to throw a bone to get us to shut the hell up. So if we could
indicate some things that give them another option.
SG: I don't know, I think it should be left that way.
Page 15 of 23
HO: I guess I'm just going to say as chair that we forward and pass the motion to accept the draft letter
in support for the center, and I think we should at this time move along. Okay draft of World
Human Rights Day Proclamation, December 10'b and packet item 5C.
c. World Human Rights Day Proclamation
SB: The only things when I read through it that I noticed if the Commission chooses to move forward
with this is number one that starts with all people are equal before the law. I went through and
highlighted the ones that they mentioned that would not be covered here locally, and then I put
down the ones that they don't have that are covered here. I don't know if I need to go over that
list for purposes of this meeting, but just to make a note that the political, other opinion, social
origin, property or birth or that of their parents. Those would not be things that would be covered
here under the Human Rights Ordinance.
HO: So we'd probably be best off proclamation at this time.
SB: And then adding age, marital status, sexual orientation, creed, familiar status, presence or absence
of dependents, public assistance source of income and gender identity, and those would be the
ones that they didn't mention that are covered. Then number eight that starts with all residents
are entitled to the protection. I would just suggest that for the utilities, that second sentence first
page. The last sentence on the first page I should say utilities — building departments into
unfettered access to the municipal court of the City of Iowa City. The county really runs the
court system here, and so I would probably just omit that just because it may, for people who
aren't familiar with the judicial system in town it may cause more confusion.
OT: So what are you omitting?
DT: All of number eight?
SB: No I think you can put all residents are entitled to the protection by the city's police, fire,
housing, health, utilities and building departments and then period, thank you.
OT: And then get rid of the rest?
SB: Correct.
HO: Okay we have some changes to the document before you that was presented. Do I hear a motion
to accept the proclamation with the changes mentioned?
Tallon moved, Ghoneim seconded.
HO: Any further discussion or any change that you see?
Motion passed. 6 -0.
SB: I will get it edited and I can even put it in the next packet just for one more review to make sure
it's the way you absolutely want it before I submit it to the City Clerk. It's not until December
anyway so we have a pretty good opportunity to really look it over for a few months up until that
time if you so desire.
HO: Draft the Youth Awards Letter advertisement and that's item 5d right after the proclamation.
Page 16 of 23
d. Youth Awards Letter
DT: Who do you send this letter to?
SB: Well when the Commission initially proposed it it was meant to go, my understanding was to
guidance counselors and people within the school system who worked directly with kids. I think
over time it's expanded to kind of include any community person who would interact or have
activities, programs with children that they could get the word out about this award, and
encourage them to nominate an adult that they think has gone above and beyond as far as
encouraging and promoting human rights.
DT: When will
SB: The awards are in May and I think the hope was to get this out at least sometime in the fall so that
it was kind of on the radar. The nomination forms at earliest probably would not be available
until January 2013.
DT: Is this something that or do they talk youth, is it Youth Commission?
SB: No it's actually separate from that, but the city does have a youth commission. At one time there
was a pretty good relationship with the Youth Commission and the Human Rights Commission,
but this actually was an award that was established just last year by three Commission members.
The youth awards have, that program or ceremony has, I think it started in 2003 I think, but this
was an addition to that. So that the youth awards is what it sounds like, its where kids are
honored similar to the breakfast, but it's for kids and it's a lot bigger event because we're trying
to encourage the youth to perform or to do good acts for others and to promote human rights. So
this was just a sub - committee last year came up with this suggestion that they thought an adult
who often times has helped or assisted the children who are receiving the awards also be
recognized.
HO: We have two nominees for the breakfast awards and that's where it came out of that we came up
with the idea and maybe we need to have a youth leader, and not just at the breakfast awards be
nominated, but at the youth awards and be properly recognized.
SB: There were two adults who were nominated for their outstanding work with children.
DT: Could it be an opportunity to engage the Youth Commission with like some _ target
demographic anyway and to get them to...?
SB: Sure I think that's a great idea.
HO: Okay we have before us a draft of the letter of advertisement for the Youth Awards letter. Do I
hear a motion to accept it?
Goeb moved, seconded by Hanrahan.
HO: Any further discussion or any change that you see?
Motion passed. 6 -0
Page 17 of 23
6. Updates/Reports:
a. Immigration Subcommittee
KH: So I'm happy to report that there's been some activity since the last time we spoke. There was a
lull during the summer when the co -chair of the sub - committee had a lot of scheduling conflicts.
Since that time we've met one time a couple weeks back, and this morning we were able to tour
city hall, the rec center and the library. Stefanie actually led that tour and took notes, and also
took pictures recommendation portion of what we're doing. We are attempting to
schedule another to ask more people to join and get more input. I thought this morning went
really well, and I thought that they felt listened to and I thought that they had some really good
comments.
SG: What were their comments?
KH: It was Maria and Gloria came. I had a group of five cancelled this morning at around 8:00. They
worked part-time and they got called in. They are janitors at the school district and if they're
gonna have a chance to work then that's what they are going to do. You can't fault them for that,
but that's why we're scheduled again for the 0 of next month at 10:00 in the morning and we
were hoping to get at least that group of folks. I also contacted Karla at the First Mennonite
Church to see if she had anyone that she would be interested in inviting to come. So the one
interesting idea that I thought came from that is that in several states or at least one state they
actually have a city or a community ID, that once you're gotten that ID you can use that to access
any city services that need an ID. So it's not that you have to get a different one from different
departments, but once you actually have that city ID then you can use it at the library or the rec
center or anyplace that requires an ID. We'll meet again on October 0.
DT: Are there city services where you need an ID besides the library?
SB: Well for water, for housing authority, for the rec center you need some, I think he said you need
something to check out a basketball or something. There are probably others I'm forgetting, did
we mention a bus pass? I'm not sure what is required for a bus pass.
SG: Do you have any idea then Kim what would be the possibility of our city to give such IDs?
KH: I think Stefanie can better answer that. There's a history that the Commission has had and
moving with city council and the city to do a number of things. Now what we're prioritized for
the sub - committee is signage for city services, and the second would be the IDs and trying to
uniform IDs
HO: expanding where?
KH: Well the next meeting will be the 4th at 10:00 during the tour. I know there was a discussion from
the minutes of last meeting, that there was a thought that maybe another Commissioner could step
forward and I really appreciate that. Now that Gloria is back on board who is the co -chair who
we really need, and she's one of the leaders and we really are trying to promote more immigration
representation on the committee. I'm feeling like we're moving more forward at this point so I
can certainly let you all know when the next meetings are, and if you can join us that's fine. The
other person who is also on board is Diane _, who is really strong in the movement last year.
She wasn't able to come this week, but she plans on coming to the next one and she actually I
Page 18 of 23
think is feeling more comfortable being more involved and attending every meeting that we have
so. It feels a lot better.
HO: Thank you for your time.
b. Ad Hoc Diversity Committee
OT: Well we had two meetings. The first meeting we just kind of had introductions and got to know
each other and talked about our perception of things as a committee, individuals and what it is
that we want to maybe focus on. The two charges that the city council gave the committee is to
come back with a recommendation on law enforcement and transportation. So we basically
decided that we would have law enforcement to meet with the committee first, and we started out
with one meeting, but then the more we talked we decided that we would have two meetings with
law enforcement. The first meeting was yesterday. The chief of police and two of his captains
came in and met with the committee. The captain talked about all the certification and how the
police officers are prepared and things like that. Then you know the committee members began to
ask questions and basically started asking for specifics because we want to meet again with law
enforcement next Monday. One thing that kind of stood out is one of the individuals on the
committee asked could they come up with statistics. A breakdown of arrests by race and things
like that, and so we're supposed to get that information before the next meeting. We asked the
chief of police what is his vision for bringing the committee together pointing out that obviously
when police officers are called to a situation they have to arrive and they have a relationship with
the individuals on that level. But you know we're wanting to know what type of contacts or what
type of things are going to be done or are being done or will be done in the future. Contact with
the minority community that aren't related to negative situations. We just kinda threw that out
and basically giving him a chance to get his thoughts together. So our next meeting next week
with him will be getting some specifics based upon the request that we gave yesterday. I had to
leave early because I had a commitment with my wife, so some of the things went on after I left.
I thought number one I think the committee is really well rounded. I think it's nice that nobody
appears to be coming in with a set agenda or vindictive so. Basically you know hoping that we
can not only get the police department and law enforcement to look at what we feel they need to
do, but also what do they feel that we as citizens, the community can do to assist them in making
things happen. At this point I'm feeling fairly positive.
SG: I know you said you had to leave a bit early, but did you feel from what the captain and the other
police officers that they are receptive to sort of pointed questions regarding race or lack of it in
their perspective?
OT: I could be misreading, but personally I felt that they were somewhat . I think basically they
want to come in right off the bat and show exactly that they're qualified. No one brought it up
you know, but it's like you can take all the training, all the courses in the world and be the most
qualified on the face of this earth, but there are just certain things when you have to deal with
people. That training is not going to get you through. It's your ability to adjust, issue
compassion, it's your desire to be fair. There are a lot of things that come into play that creates a
positive environment. Training helps you know. We asked you know all this training that your
officers go through, but how much diversity training have they had? Of the training they had
once you get it when you have staff meetings are you following up on it. Well their response to
that is that's a very difficult thing to do, and I have to agree that it is somewhat difficult because
they're not like the average staff where everybody is there from nine to five. You've got your
day shift and night shift, and you have captains that run the shift that meet with everybody before
the shift to let them know what's going on and give them updates, and then send them out to take
Page 19 of 23
care of business. So you know diversity training, but I still feel that that's not I mean that's not
an excuse, that's reality. The question is how do we get each individual to the point that they're
getting some exposure to diversity training that will help them to be more knowledgeable of how
to deal with the minority populations. That's a conversation we're going to have next week. I
accepted his explanation of that in terms of the reality that we have, but I think a bigger reality is
okay, okay with that now. How do we get these individuals so that we are comfortable that they
are getting diversity training, and if you can't get everybody together, then what mechanism can
you put in place to see that somebody is going to be doing follow -up with them.
SG: Do you know Orville the percentage of minority police in Iowa City, Coralville force?
OT: I asked the question and I think there are three. I asked them how many black police officers
were there and I think the response was three.
HO: Do any of those have rank?
OT: I didn't ask that. I just asked how many officers, but I would say probably not because I feel, and
I'm cynic because if you had a black officer that had any rank he probably would have had him
there . This is a unique situation and it's a very sensitive situation. I feel that there
definitely needs to be change, but where we're making change we need to make sure that we're
making change in a manner that's going to not only take care of the public needs, but it's going to
give assurances that our police officers are safe. We got some work to do, but you know I'm
hoping that at the next meeting we'll get a little more information.
KH: One of the things that stood out for me for the Iowa City Police Review Board, presentation that
they did was that's there is no tracking mechanism to identify if one officer is getting more
complaints than others. Do you recall that? I know there's something in the logistics with how
you track, but it seems if they could at least try and figure out if one officer has more complaints.
OT: I asked that question and basically it was one of those things where probably could have
answered it, but it's a thing that you probably want to stop and think about it and say I'll have to
get back to you with that. I know for a fact from talking to the black community that there are
some officers that
KH: You talk to people on the streets and they know.
OT: But at the same time we don't want to get into he said, she said. We want to ask them to give us
facts and then I'm hoping that that's gonna be that the committee is gonna be meeting with
the public to get their perception of what's going on, and able to get specifics. It's easy to
complain about something, but I personally feel that if you, if it's important to you and you really
want change, then to be fair to the person who is being accused. You really need to step up and
be willing to put it on the line and come to a meeting or talk to the right people, give your
concerns and put it in writing.
HO: Thank you so very much for that report.
C. Commission
HO: Reports of the Commission. Sham do you have anything?
SG: No thanks
Page 20 of 23
HO:
Dan? Connie?
CG:
No
HO:
Kim?
KH:
No.
HO:
Orville?
OT: Well I've got our community committee. We were supposed to meet last week and there were
only three of us, myself, Stefanie and one other committee member. So I've sent out another
email stressing the importance of attending meetings because everybody had agreed at the
previous meeting that that was an acceptable date and then didn't show up. I've sent out an email
stressing the importance keeping meetings and then scheduled a meeting for September 24"'.
We'll see if we can get people to attend. Frankly I think it's a committee that, we're looking at
some things you know especially getting the community involved. I see that as being very
important. I asked the question do we want to keep the community going, the committee going.
If people are not giving input or participating, and the answer is yes. We feel that it's an
important committee so we're gonna keep going. If there are three of us or if there are five of us,
but basically we're gonna keep on trying to get the community involved because I think we all
agree that that's essential and making some things happen in our community.
CG: I have one question to Orville that goes back to the other committee that you are on. I read
recently about changes in the bus system in terms of how they're picking up kids and dropping
off kids. That there are more direct or a more non -stop routes or something. Does that ease that
question or is this you're just gonna go and address that for transportation...?
OT: That basically has taken care of itself. I mean the issue there was that instead of getting a bus that
goes directly to take the black kids directly to the communities that they live in because of
economics of whatever. They decided that hey you know they're on their own due to
transportation. That works for the school district and saves them money, but it takes all of these
kids who — class all day and are hyper, and it puts them down in one spot together. But again it
goes to show you about how cultural things happen. What they were doing is there was a bus
stop, an identical bus stop in St. Louis or Detroit or Chicago there wouldn't have been a problem,
but because its Iowa City and we are so used to having it quiet where you can sit down at the bus
stop and listen to opera. You know read a novel and play chess, that's what we are accustomed to
from the good ole days. The good ole days are gone. When it comes to diversity we are a
community that is in transition, and that's a good example. Because it was a problem and it was
impacting people negatively, it was corrected I think when they changed the route if I'm not
mistaken. There's a bus going directly taking these kids directly home. In all fairness to them I
really don't think it was fair to expect a bunch of kids to be together like that you know another
45 minutes or an hour onto their day and something not to happen. I'm not saying that what they
were doing was right, but I'm saying that we did have other options. I think basically that's been
corrected with the routes. I'm not sure about that but I haven't heard anything.
CG: I was just wondering if that would just go off your agenda or if you're still gonna look at the
transportation issues.
Page 21 of 23
OT: I'm hoping we'll look at it in terms of can we learn, did we learn from the reality of what
happened. It's not necessarily the . People made decisions based on what they felt was
advantageous for them, but I think if we're going to be looking at being a diverse community
we've got to look at all of the pros and cons. It can't be like business as usual. I think that's one
of the things where we talked to the transportation people that I know I will bring it up and say in
hindsight would you do the same thing or would you do it differently.
KH: I think what they're finding is that you said was underutilized because they underestimated the
socialization aspect with all these youth hanging out in downtown after school.
HO: I have one Commission thing to report. I was contacted by Jeff Cox about the new Jim Crow
comes to Iowa City. You have a copy of the article he wrote in your packet. He was invited to
attend tonight's meeting as well as the October meeting. I don't know if we want to put it on the
agenda for October under new business, but of particular concern is the courthouse which goes up
for a referendum on the November ballot.
SG: You mean the justice center?
HO: Right. I don't know how you feel about putting it on the agenda, but that's the only way if we're
gonna do it we have to do it for the October meeting to talk about it, and then whatever action we
may want to take whether it be a letter to the editor or an open letter to the public in some form to
take a stand.
OT: What type of stand do you feel would be appropriate for us to take?
HO: I don't know that's why I invited Jeff to attend the meeting and talk to us tonight about what his
concern is and how he sees us addressing the concern.
KH: Who is he?
HO: Jeff Cox is a Professor of History at the University.
CG: And he approached you Harry?
HO: Yes.
SG: He actually wrote a letter to the editor regarding that a few weeks ago. I think he was against it if
I remember correctly. He was against the justice center. I'm biased. I've taken a tour of the jail.
I've taken a tour of the courthouse. We really need one desperately.
OT: I have some concerns about that, but as a compromise I feel more comfortable if you request Mr.
Cox that he sends us a written statement outlining what his concerns are, or what he would like
for us to address so that we can look at it before we met with him.
SG: Yes some time to talk it over and so close to the elections.
OT: But this is a political thing, it's not just building a building. There are so many pros and cons
involved in it, and I guess my thing I'm always willing to acquire new knowledge. If he's got
something that I feel that I could benefit from, then I'd like to have it. I think I'd like to have it
before I sit down to talk to him.
Page 22 of 23
HO: Well like I said he was invited to tonight's meeting. He was aware of the time and the place and
everything, and he did not show up. I just wanted to bring it to your attention that I was contacted
by him. Staff reports?
d. Staff
SB: I just have a very light list here. I have three vacancies for the Human Rights Commission I
believe were just posted with the city council tonight. Of course every year we gain three and
lose three. The deadline for those applications to be into the city clerk's office will be
Wednesday November 7`h at 5 pm.
HO: We're losing Howard, Connie and myself.
SB: Correct. The reports of the complaints are I believe it's the last item in the packet. We were able
to clear out a lot of cases over the last few months, so we're back to fewer complaints than what
you've seen in the past. I do want to mention that the city recently closed their document services
department, and so as a result of that I am learning to become a document specialist. So I do
apologize for this. If you have it discarded it, and I will provide an updated and correct one in the
October packet. Orville was left off the bottom of the sheet and I didn't list Harry as the chair.
I'm learning and I'm getting good at this stuff, but obviously I still have a lot of room for
improvement.
SG: Can I ask a question to everybody? It's kind of off the radar here.
SB: If it's not a Commission related question then he can end the meeting and then you can ask.
Adiournment:
Motion to adjourn at 19:31.
7. Next Regular Meeting — October 16"' at 18:00.
Page 23 of 23
Human Rights Commission
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2012
(Meeting Date)
KEY:
X = Present O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting /No Quorum
R = Resigned - = Not a Member
TERM
10/1
11/2
12/1
NAME
EXP.
1/17
2/21
3120
4/17
5/15
6/19
7/17
8/21
9/18
6
0
8
Dr. Howard
1/1113
X
X
O/E
X
O/E
X
O/E
X
O/E
Cowen
Constance
1/1/13
X
O/E
X
X
O/E
O/E
X
X
X
Goeb
Harry
1/1113
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Olmstead
(8 -1 -2010)
David B.
1/1/14
X
O/E
O/E
O/E
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
Brown
Diane
1/1114
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
O/E
Finnerty
Orville
111/14
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Townsend,
Sr.
Henri Harper
1/1/15
O/E
X
O/E
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
Kim
1/1/15
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
Hanrahan
Shams
1/1/15
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Ghoneim
Jessie
1/1/15
-
-
-
-
-
O/E
X
X
O/E
Harper
(Appointed
6-5-12)
Dan Tallon
1/1/14
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
X
X
(Appointed
7- 31 -12)
KEY:
X = Present O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM = No meeting /No Quorum
R = Resigned - = Not a Member